Point of View: insider or outsider?

Name (first and last) DateReading Period #Point of View (POV)

Essential Question: How do I describe the narrator’s perspective or way of telling a story?

Point of View: insider or outsider?

1. first person narrator – uses I, we, my, our, usExamples:

Point of View: Can you believe the narrator?

You may want to question the opinion of a single narrator because you only get one side of the story.

Classic stories told from an animal’s point of view:

A story can also switch narrators in each chapter so it is told from multiple points of view.

2. second person – tells the story from your point of view; uses pronoun you

Point of View

“You are not the kind of guy who would be at a place like this at this time of the morning. But here you are, and you cannot say that the terrain is entirely unfamiliar, although the details are fuzzy.”

Example of second person point of view:

Point of View Third person is like a news reporter telling the story and uses pronouns he, she, they.

3. third person objective – tells the story about what all characters do and say but not what they think and feel

Point of View

4. third person limited –from inside the mind of only one main character

5. third person omniscient – tells the story knowing what all characters think, feel, and do

Point of View

Omniscient is pronounced “om NISH uhnt”.

There are five points of view. If you want to liven up your writing, try writing from a different point of view.

Summary